e-bikes are annoying if they are not muted. at least with a motorcycle, they wizz by fast. but an e-bike has an annoying tone that lingers on. almost like those annoying hondas with the fart cannons. i think e-bikes are great, but, they need to be muffled.

dporpentine

Somewhere in the archives of this site is a debate I had with Andy B from NJ, who insisted that electric bikes were legal, end of story. I remember him saying such silly things as “Federal law always trumps state law.” I’m really looking forward to him stepping in to argue with that WSJ article.

carma

something that is so ironically weird about the ed koch bridge accidents is that ALL THREE CARS were vdubya’s. 3 vw’s????? although it is partially DOT design or poor road design w/ the construction. it is NOTHING BUT the driver’s speed or overspeeding that caused the accidents.

Arthur Ochs Cheeseburger III

WTF is it with the New York Times that they can only find it within themselves to cover the transportation beat as a gee-whiz, slice-of-life NYC culture and anthropology story? There are lots of great stories, serious issues and compelling political machinations to cover in the realm of New York transportation. Instead, from our city’s top newspaper, we get Lexus taxicabs, Jackie Mason pretending he’s a fucking car horn and Michael Grynbaum re-printing press releases from Gibson Dunn.

fdr

From the City Limits story on Weinshall: “Still, at least one prominent neighborhood cyclist has steadily refused to comment publicly on the lane: Senator Charles Schumer. Schumer’s love of cycling has been the focus of several newspaper feature stories over the years, and neighbors say he still bikes in the neighborhood. Smith, in fact, said she had shouted a greeting and an admonition to him days earlier, when she saw him riding the wrong way up one-way President Street. (Schumer’s office did not comment.)”

DOT to Chuck: “Chuck, don’t be a jerk.”

Eric McClure

@carma,

My wife and I for years have had a running joke about “Jetta drivers,” given their incredible propensity for dangerous driving maneuvers. Maybe that explains it.

Indefinitelee

WPIX had a hacktackular piece tonight on the Central Park vehicle ban.
At one point the reporter was driving through the transverse describing how slowly she is moving. never mind that the transverses won’t be affected, just the inner roadways.

Joe R.

Yes, Andy B is correct. One of the few good things Bush #2 did was to define under federal law as a bicycle any e-assist bike which has less than 750 watts and goes no more than 20 mph on the motor alone (although it can go faster with the motor assist plus pedaling). Since federal law trumps state law, NYC and NYS can’t make e-bikes illegal to use on public roads. And if anything, e-bikes make more sense in NYC than cars. In fact, they’re a great way to allow those who might otherwise feel left out because they can’t ride a bike well to make use of the new bike infrastructure. And if more people feel bike infrastructure is useful to them, then there will be broader support for it. Besides that, I think it would be kind of cool seeing “granny” and “gramps” on their ebikes zipping along at the same speed as me!

Joe R.

Yes, Andy B is correct. One of the few good things Bush #2 did was to define under federal law as a bicycle any e-assist bike which has less than 750 watts and goes no more than 20 mph on the motor alone (although it can go faster with the motor assist plus pedaling). Since federal law trumps state law, NYC and NYS can’t make e-bikes illegal to use on public roads. And if anything, e-bikes make more sense in NYC than cars. In fact, they’re a great way to allow those who might otherwise feel left out because they can’t ride a bike well to make use of the new bike infrastructure. And if more people feel bike infrastructure is useful to them, then there will be broader support for it. Besides that, I think it would be kind of cool seeing “granny” and “gramps” on their ebikes zipping along at the same speed as me!

Joe R.

Yes, Andy B is correct. One of the few good things Bush #2 did was to define under federal law as a bicycle any e-assist bike which has less than 750 watts and goes no more than 20 mph on the motor alone (although it can go faster with the motor assist plus pedaling). Since federal law trumps state law, NYC and NYS can’t make e-bikes illegal to use on public roads. And if anything, e-bikes make more sense in NYC than cars. In fact, they’re a great way to allow those who might otherwise feel left out because they can’t ride a bike well to make use of the new bike infrastructure. And if more people feel bike infrastructure is useful to them, then there will be broader support for it. Besides that, I think it would be kind of cool seeing “granny” and “gramps” on their ebikes zipping along at the same speed as me!